110th congress. we have made it a priority to see this legislation through. i am thankful of collecting all the signatures on his side of the aisle and for making this happen. when i first announced my intentions to introduce the mark twain commemorative coin act all eight of my colleagues immediately came onboard to help advance this legislation. i want to acknowledge the boyhood home and museum, executive director and the curator as well as their dedicated staff for the incredible work to promote air warnse and appreciate the life and work of mark twain. importantly, i'd like to thank chairman bachus, ranking member frank, speaker boehner and majority leader cantor for their assistance and cooperation for getting this bill scheduled in the house. a true american figure, samuel clemens, better known to the world as mark twain, was born and raised in missouri and missed the turmoil of the american civil war. his home inspired settings of

some of the most beloved stories and helped shape his views on injustice. it commemorates the childhood of a man who grew up to be one of the most recognized name in literature. . the museum opened its doors in 1912 and was designated a historic landmark in 19 of 2. i'd -- 196 . i'd also like to recognize the museum for its 100th anniversary which will be celebrated on may 15. twain would eventually move to connecticut where he would work on "the adventures of hurricaneleberry fin." hartford is home to the museum which is dedicated in educating people about twain, his works, and the time period in which he lived. a college breathes new life into the history of mark twain, offering fellowships on research on the author. it also hosts a mark twain conference and provides tours of twain's study where he sought refuge to write several

short stories and some of his most famous novels. the mark twain project at the bank croft library at the university of california, berkley, houses the mark twain papers, an archive of virtually every document in twain's hand known to survive. the bill we consider today honors the legacy of a great american that will benefit the institutions that continue to spread awareness and educate the public of his great accomplishments and contributions to society. i urge my colleagues to join me in passing legislation that was co-sponsored by 298 of my colleagues. with that i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. baca: mr. speaker, i yield myself as much time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. baca: mr. speaker, i want to recognize the gentleman from missouri, mr. loot mere, for his efforts on this meaningful -- luetkemeyer, for his efforts on this meaningful legislation. i rise today in support of h.r. 2453, the mark twain commemorative coin act. this legislation calls for the u.s. mint to produce a coin in

2016, i state, in 2016, designed to honor mark twain's contribution to americans' history. william faulkner once called mark twain the father of the american literature. one of america's most beloved authors, mark twain's life, legacy have left a laughter mark on our nation. mark twain, whose real name is samuel clement, was beloved by many of his which thes and short stories. twain worked as a steamboat pilot and reported before finding success as a writer. his hometown of in missouri later became the setting for his most famous novel, "the adventures of tom sawyer" and "the adventures of huckleberry fin." twain's other well known work of fiction include "the prince and the pauper" and "the kentucky yankee in kid arthur's

court." h. this directs the u.s. mint to produce a $1 and a $5 commemorative coin in 2016, and i state, at no cost to the taxpayers, at no cost to the taxpayers. the simple price of the coin will cover the cost of production. in addition, the sale of the coin will generate revenue for the benefit of four of mark twain's institutions, the mark twain house and museum in hartford, kentucky, the library at the university of california-berkley, and the college in new york and the mark twain boyhood home in missouri and the museum in hannibal, missouri. i urge my colleagues to support this responsible legislation. the recognition of one of america's greatest authors and mark twain, i reserve the balance of my time at this point. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from missouri is recognized. mr. luetkemeyer: thank you, mr.

speaker. i don't have any further speakers at this time so i'll continue to reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from california. mr. baca: i'd like to call on the gentleman from kentucky, john larson, one of our leaders , to give him the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. larson: thank you, mr. speaker. thank you, mr. baca, from california. and i thank the hartford, hannibal connection. i want to thank representative luetkemeyer for your tireless work and effort in making this bill possible for the great institutions that both you and representative baca have illuminated. to stand here today and talk about the literary genius of mark twain and to see the institutions that will benefit from this and as representative baca points out, at no cost to the american public, but enrichening americans all

across this great nation. i dare say around the globe. from the visits that these great institutions, whether they be in hartford, whether it be in hannibal, whether it be in he will mirea, or at berkley in california. all of who will benefit directly from mark twain. i'm glad that we're having a voice vote because i wouldn't want to put what mark twain had to say about members of congress to a test here on the floor. but as my good friend and colleague joe bacas a hasn't -- has pointed out, the great works of mark twain stand throughout the ages. of course there's nary a person who hasn't read "huckleberry fin" or "tom sawyer." as mentioned "kentucky yankee in king arthur's court," we like to refer to it is a kentucky red sox in king

arthur's court. the entire board has worked tirelessly to make sure that we are able to perpetuate the great legacy of mark twain, in his literature, in his humor, and his is a tire. it's a gift for the country that everyone should have the opportunity to enjoy. just this -- last year in the house adjoining the twain house in hartford is the home of harriette beacher stow and we had the members of the congressional black caucus who came to hartford to participate in a discussion about race. and of course even today, as both mark twain and the whole issue of huckleberry fin and tom sawyer continued to come under literary discussion and debate, it also focuses on an important issue that the nation needs to continue to face and that's the whole issue of ewe

manatee as it relates to how man deals with man and the whole issue of racism. there was no stronger proponent in this nation than samuel clemens. mark twain was just an incredible in terms of his gift, his literary genius, a great ambassador abroad for this country and heralded on this shore and all across the globe as a humanitarian. and so we're so proud and i again want to thank representative luetkemeyer for his efforts to make this possible. i know that in hartford and in hannibal, elmira and berkley, people are very pleased that this will continue to benefit them and allow this great treasure and this great person of literature, american literature, to continue to

enjoy the vast reputation and legacy that all americans ought to enjoy. thank you so much and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from missouri is recognized. mr. luetkemeyer: i have no further speakers but i'll continue to reserve. mr. baca: i have no further speakers and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california yields back. the gentleman from missouri. mr. luetkemeyer: thank you, mr. speaker. i just want to close with a few closing thoughts here. again, i thank the gentleman from kentucky for his hard work in helping to put this together, as well as the gentleman from california, mr. baca, for his help today. you know, it's interesting, when i was a director of tourism in the state of missouri, we found out just how big an icon mr. twain was. mark twain not only is an icon who's rosed around the united states, but he's one of the few icons that people from other countries recognize about our country. and if you travel to hannibal, missouri, you can see the influence in the surroundings

there in the stories that he told and what kind of an influence it had on him as a youth and the stories as they unfolded. it's quite something. so, again, with that, mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. however i would like to ask that an exchange of letters between the committee on the financial services and the committee on ways and means regarding this bill be included in the congressional record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. luetkemeyer: with that i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 2453 as amended. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. the gentleman from california. mr. baca: i ask for the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. all those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on this question will be poachtponed.

-- postponed. pursuant to clause 12-a of rule 1, the chair declares the house in recess until approximately here he is in 2008.

>> this is a book not just about lyndon johnson, but about robert kennedy and jack kennedy, and the interplay of their personalities, particularly robert. it is a complicated story that i do not think people know of two very complicated people. robert kennedy and lyndon johnson. i had to go into that and tried to explain it. it is part of a story through the end of johnson presidency. that is done. at the moment, johnson is passing the 1964 voting rights act. that is where i am now. >> you can watch the interview and the rest of the appearances on line. at the c-span video library. watch for our upcoming interview on monday -- may 6.

the george w. bush institute recently posted a conference in new york on taxes and the economy. one discussion focused on the connection between tax rates of the state level and economic growth. this is one hour. we have a panel on state government and taxes. i am not going to name them all, but they will be here. i do want to introduce the been of the cox school of business at southern methodist university.

we will have the governors on after this panel. we wanted to do a panel where we have experts taking a look at what is happening in the state. i cannot think of a better person to do that than the person who is dedicated his career to looking at which state succeeds and why. we're also very proud to have as our partner in so many things southern mr. -- southern methodist university. >> i like our position as being the first panel. i did not know we had to follow gov. christie. we have got a tough act to follow. it is the first time i have seen gov. christie on television. he is awfully impressive. what he had to say about the

growth of government, i teach a course on the evolution of american capitalism. the government collectively was 10% or less until the great depression. in the great depression, it got around 20% with all of the new deal programs. we never got back there. we have crept to 40%. people say, how big should government be? it is 42% now. a few years ago, it was 10%. we do not seem to be able to find a way to ratchet down with government. in the interest of true disclosure, i grew up in boston, mass. i let the state when the income tax was 12%. a ph.d. dissertation was looking at the 25 years after world war

ii and economic forces driving companies to move their businesses to the sun belt. when i finished my dissertation at age 25, i was offered an opportunity to go to the sun belt. i took the position at the university of georgia. i have spent the last 20 years into the great growth states, georgia and texas. our panel will look at state taxes, how economies grow, why some are more successful. i will start with steve from "the wall street journal." is the author of five books, including "bullish on bush" and "rich states, courts states --

poor states." why are some rich or poor and what do the tax rates have to do with it? >> thank you. it is a thrill to be here. i remember in 2003 i and other economists went to visit president bush in the white house. the president wanted stimulus for the economy. he was seeking advice. we came in and recommended eliminating the dividend tax. we made the case the dividend tax was a double tax on corporate income and we should have a corporate income or dividend tax but not both. the president embraced the idea and came out with a proposal to eliminate the dividend tax. we did not get down to zero, but we did get to 15%.

we cut the capital gains rate to 15%. i think that was one of the great accomplishments of the bush and administration. if you want to see how tax policy affects behavior, look at what happened in the aftermath of the tax cut. 2003 through 2007 were the strongest economic growth years we have had in history. there is this talk now of the buffett tax that president obama will be talking about today. the left does not believe tax rates matter. they do not think taxes affect behavior. they also do not think taxes affect revenues. i wish the president, tim geithner, and some of the other obama economists were here because on the tax issue, they do not have their tray tables in

the upright position. look at what happened in the aftermath. the capital gains revenues doubled in the courtroom years after we cut the tax rate from 20% to 15%. the lower tax rates led to a doubling the revenue. tax rates do matter. to get to the question about states, if people do not think tax rates matter, please explain california. california has every advantage a state could have. it has the most beautiful mountains, silicon valley, beautiful beaches, beautiful women, anything anyone could possibly want. if you look at the performance of the california economy over the last 10 years, it has been a catastrophe. i think things will get worse for california. one reason i am not so bullish about the economy going forward is california traditionally has been a sail for the u.s.

economy. it has been california to lead us out of the recession. now it has become an anchor because of the high taxes and regulation policies of the state. california is now on the ballot in november. it will have a ballot initiative to raise the top tax rate to 15%. california will be the highest tax rate in the country, even higher than new york city. i think they hold that up as a badge of honor in california. i do this study every year where we grade the states on economic policies. we have been doing this for 10 years. we see when states to the wrong thing, like california is doing, you see the effect on economic output, migration. migration is an amazing story. california is losing its wealth. they're going to states like

nevada, idaho, and texas. how the explain texas? over the last 10 or 12 years, texas has had about 40% of all the net new jobs in the united states. that is an amazing performance. 40% of all the new jobs have been in one state. it is a note tax state. it is a light regulations state. it is booming. one last point i will make is that one thing i am looking at right now is that the blue states are getting lower and the red states are getting -- the blue states are getting bluer in the red states are getting redder. in illinois, things are so bad that people want rod blagojevich back. [laughter]

we raised our corporate tax by over 50%. the corporate rate is now a highest in the midwest and the third highest in the country. mitch daniels said it well when he said being in neighboring states to illinois is like living next to the simpsons. it is true. it is in an incredible a rut. taxes affect behavior, they certainly do. the last point is that these men states -- red states -- he is one of the nine states with no income tax at all. tennessee will grow faster over the next decade because they are eliminating the death and a state tax and gift tax. tennessee will not just be a good place to live and work. it will also be a good place to die as well. that will keep wealth in the state of tennessee.

you have three or four states right now looking at becoming no income tax states. the races on. you have missouri, oklahoma, , my favorite state, north dakota. you have kansas trying to remove the state income tax there. north dakota is booming, they have some much revenue they could easily eliminate income tax the way alaska did. this is an exciting development. i think this is a development we ought to be paying really close attention to. some states are raising their rates. what you're going to see over the ensuing years is because of

this dichotomy, people will be able to see it which states work and which don't. john,you turned around michigan with their tax policies back in the 1990's. you had one of the fastest growth of many states. taxes do matter and i wish people in washington understood that. >> you mention california and all of its advantages. could it turnaround? could it come back? could they change direction? they're trying it in ohio. indiana made changes recently. i love the place. i have had the occasion to go to california lot. then you say, they just keep fumbling the ball. as thomas jefferson called it, the tyranny of the majority. are the crazies and charging california?

-- are the crazies in charge and is california dead in the water? >> you can turn things around quick. california is getting close to a tipping point where they have more takers than makers. if you put in a pro-growth gov. things can turn around so quickly. that is why what is happening in new jersey with chris christie is so exciting. it does not take a long time for these policies to turn things around. when you took over as governor in michigan, michigan was a basket case. did they went back to the bad policies. there was a regression. states like california can boom. california has every possible advantage. silicon valley, the most educated work force and the country. it is a tragedy to see how that state is being ruined by high taxes. california also passed a cap and trade bill. it is also leading to businesses leaving the state as well. >> next level turned to my colleague on the right, michael cox.

i am changing my order a bit. michael has done significant research on the comparison between why texas is doing so well and why california is suffering. michael runs the freedom center at the cox school of business. he was senior vice president at the dallas fed and he joined my faculty and fall of 2008. tell us a little bit about california versus taxes. -- texas. >> the question is what are people leaving california and going to texas? that is the no. 1 state of migration we are fortunate to have data from the irs going back to the 1970's that documents all the migration going on between states coming into america from abroad as well. the states are a microcosm for what people want, generally not just in their state government but in their federal government. if you look at migration going on, for the past five years it

has been a period of the largest single migration within our borders we have never had as a matter of record. people are moving. they're looking for the new world. they are looking for a place they can go and have something they are not experiencing in the state they left. we decided to do a formal study on why people are moving. we took 15 or 20 variables people say are causing people to move such as the court system, the unemployment rate of the state, average income, the crime rate. we will try it. it turned out as of -- of all these variables people tout as being important, there are six that explain two thirds of all the migration going on amongst the states. those six are the personal income tax rate, the highest personal income tax rate the state has. the size of the government and

how fast the government is growing. the first of those is a negative. the size of government growth is a negative. also, how unionized is the state? what percentage of their labor force is unionized. quality of public schools. those are four variables. two matter as well. the climate -- we cannot do anything about that. i will not talk about that. then there is the average house price. the most important variable is significant at the 99% level. you do normal statistical tests which economists have developed. you take all 50 states that we have, their income tax rates. you can take the district of columbia as well. you take migration data. you take a look at everything and see what the computer says at what is driving migration.

what we find is what is driving migration is how high the income taxes are and how big the state budget is. let's focus on income taxes here. texas is one of seven states that has no income taxes. california has a 10.6% highest marginal income-tax rate. massachusetts had 12%, hawaii 11% and so on. you can look at this and say, what state's people are moving to on the basis. people are moving to low income tax states from high income tax states. they are voting with their feet. they're telling politicians with a value. they're telling politicians, for all your taxes you charge as we are not getting enough state benefits from it. we are not value in what you are doing with the state income tax so we are leaving. many americans would like to follow ayn rand's path out the

door of "atlas shrugged." it is expensive to leave the country. it is not expensive to leave once day and go to another. -- one state and go to another. they are telling us what they want and do not want. i would like you to take a look at our study. it is online. we will set you a copy. this is a car driving west to east from california to texas. we have added more jobs and taxes from january 2000 until -- in texas from january 2000 until december 2011, texas added more jobs than the entire rest of the nation combined. >> given the significant growth in texas, and i think the number is about 52% of all jobs created in the united states since january 2000 are in texas. what is the achilles heel for taxes?

-- texas? what could go wrong? can they keep up? >> the achilles heel would be for the state to think they need more tax revenue and become a in context. -- impose a personal income tax. that has become a signature of our state. i think what we could do the most to add more residents to their state is to reform their public schools. it would not even cost more. if you privatize the public schools -- what makes america great, it is not a public sector it is competition. in 1984 year cell phone was $4,200. it was the size of a brick. it would not fit in your pocket. it did not have any texting capabilities. today for $50 you can get an iphone with those capabilities and more. at the same time that vote has -- phone has gone to $50, the

public school systems have gotten worse. what is the difference between those two things? one is produced in the crucible of competition. people have to get up and make things better or they lose their jobs. it is not pretty but you have to compete and get more productive. that is one. the other one, in states like new jersey like gov. christie was talking about, there are classes in new jersey or the state's spending on the classroom -- it is $450,000 per classroom. they're just not affective and they are not producing a student that is competitive at the worldwide level. we know our schools are broken. what can a government do to attract people more than anything else, reform the schools. ended the tax money efficiently and wisely.

-- spent the tax money efficiently and wisely. >> travis, i am coming to you. travis is a leading advocate for tax reform. he is the leader ofa constitutional amendment to repeal the income tax. his work has focused studying the great american migration of workers who are seeking jobs. i will start off with the travis. missouri has a fairly high state income tax. tennessee only taxes interest in dividend income. what is the field look like with missouri and tennessee? >> it is a pleasure to be here today. is great to have this conversation not only at leadership levels but also in the private sector with a number of you in the business community. we can put a definition about what they have said about migration. missouri -- we are in the middle of the country. part of what the wall street

journal has referred to as the heartland tax rebellion. it is time for voters to wake up and shake loose their economy and understand what has worked in what has not. missouri provides a great comparison to tennessee. 50 years ago tennessee inherited a no tax position from the supreme court. back then they were economically inferior, fewer people moving there. they had a smaller state budget. today the reverse is true. i have a larger state budget, they provide more services. they pay their teachers more. they start out thinking more and -- making more and stay in the system longer. they have more generous social service programs. we know they are not shortchanging revenue to pursue a smarter tax policy. i think our founding fathers understood this concept very well what made america great among the states and competition. been franklin in 1765 in reference to the stamp act said

idleness in pride tax with a heavier hand and kings and parliament. if we can get rid of the former rican easily bear the latter. missouri is like many of the heartland states. we are not idle people. we enjoyed working wherever we can work can be productive. we have a tax structure that has 11 tax brackets under $9,000 in wages. i learned today if you are taxed like a millionaire in the jersey if it is over $4,000, and missouri are taxed at the same rate of millionaires above $9,000 in wages. -- missouri is $9,000 in wages. result is we rank 48 in relative nominal gdp growth. we can and must do better. our people pose a culture is better than that. you see -- people's culture is better than that. you might see with clarity what

is happening to your body. we can look at net adjusted gross income shifts in all these cases, not just california and texas, missouri and tennessee, states that have the right tax policy like florida have seen $76 billion move to their state since 1994. states like california that have had policies previously described have lost more than $40 billion. states like missouri in the middle are neither ahead or behind. we are struggling to move to that -- the top of the tier status. we want to be part of the 4% solution this conference is focused on. we must wake up our government, our government leadership, and our people directly. we see strong evidence in recent times, not just in the midwest. washington state under initiative 1098 had an opportunity to choose the

california path. that initiative went to fail by 20 points once the business community and the citizens woke up. closer to home, we would like to thank governor quinn for thinking -- keeping missouri in the race. we have seen migration and pressure not just move to our state but to wisconsin, indiana. since that one policy move was made last january -- this is the only substantial decision made by the state budget. there have been 18 jobs per hour move out of illinois. that is one personal and income-tax is for raised as the only solution. these consequences matter greatly. the numbers are astounding when you look at migration. we must do better. we know the solutions of what

work. it is a pleasure to see you here talking about what has worked for your states. we do not have to wonder and we cannot be too proud not to recognize there is a better way to do business. >> what are the prospects for reform in misouri? >> we are working to do everything we can. i know the governor and places like kansas and oklahoma are working hard as well in their state legislative arenas. whether it is now, today, or tomorrow is a question. we will do everything we can to put us in the race to zero. we encourage and help all of the leadership here can inspire your community, your state. it is not an accidental thing like gov. christie spoke so eloquently about getting his financial house in order. 3.4 million taxpayers prior to gov. christie's arrival left new jersey for one state -- florida.

these numbers are much larger than what people are accustomed to hearing because most people have not spent time studying and looking at it. >> thank you. ike is director of economic policy. he is a director of the policy caucus in washington, d.c. much of your work is how capital gains state taxes affect growth and job creation in particular. linkagelk about the between capital gains taxes and jobs growth. >> one thing i would like to point out. like steve from the state of illinois. the one break that illinois has on its tax code is in the state

constitution it says there has to be a proportional tax. if it were not for that provision, the top marginal tax rate would be not 5% but 15%. my seventh grade social studies teacher told me one day you will be thankful for that and i finally understand what he is talking about. i did a study with will. looking at what happens when states change their capital gains rates. what brought this up is gov. case it was talking about reducing the capital gains taxes. -- governor kasich was looking at reducing the capital gains taxes. he asked us to do a study and see what this would do to jobs. the result as it does not impact jobs. i have a stylized story i think it's what is going on and what the cost is of states to have heavy capital gains taxes. you think about who represents an angel investor in a state

like illinois, indiana, wisconsin, ohio, places like that. they are never going to get anybody who is wealthy and made their money in california going from california to ohio -- and other high tax state. most people who will invest in ohio are ohioans. someone in retires at 58 and sells a successful business. the very first thing he will be tilted to -- he is going to do without much protest as get a house in florida and of their 183 days of the year and become a florida resident. the real question is, what the to get the person to remain in ohio both as a taxpayer and also as an investor? one thing that we suggest is that if you reduce or eliminate the capital gains taxes in these states people will be much more likely to stay in the state. we have seen just by interviewing people in ohio and indiana. with these people, they want to invest something they can get

their hands on. they do not want to move to california are move anywhere else. it went to stay in their state. if you give them a tax reason to do so, they will stay and the best in their state. -- and they will invest in their state. i think in the 1990's, a lot of states -- i lived in wisconsin in the 1990's. one mistake a lot of states made is this a try to attract instead of trying to attract individuals, people who are likely to create jobs, the targeted money towards businesses. one of the mindsets we have to change is to attract people who are more likely to invest. the results of our study, which are public -- published on the american action form website, is basically ohio, if you are in a higher resident and you invest -- and ohio resident in and ohio business that is -- has a market cap of less of $4 billion, basically you do not have to pay capital gains taxes. that is a long-term investment.

we got data from the national bureau of economic research. we look at what has happened to various states to have not only eliminated capital gains taxes but have increased or decreased their capital gains taxes. looking at 40 states that still have an income tax for capital gains tax, there has been quite a bit of variation. results are indisputable. of gains taxes have a strong impact on job creation. >> our friends at forbes magazine to annual rankings of business from the states. in your analysis of tax structure at the state level, if you had to name your top five business from the states and -- top five business friendly and maybe your bottom five, who would be in that set? not in order, but who gets it and who does not? >>texas gets it. i think the other state that stands out is indiana.

mitch daniels has been very aggressive about doing precisely that. not necessarily targeting businesses but creating an environment that is phenomenal for growth. it is much difficult to explain this that that is what you are doing. in wisconsin in the nineties and early 2000's, it was easy to say, i want to create jobs. i will get $10 million to harley-davidson to keep these jobs in the state. that is basically what they did. they gave tax breaks and grants to the biggest employers in the state. we all know the history of economics is the big employers usually do not remain the big employers. we are no good at identifying the small businesses. the third state i would like to point out is gov. kasich has done a fantastic job making the state more friendly to businesses and investors. he has the foresight to

recognize this is a long-term proposition and he is waiting -- ready to take on some short- term on popularity for it. -- unpopularity for it. >> in illinois because tax rates are so high, the governor is giving tax favored giveaways to see years, motorola, chicago mercantile exchange. every big industry is getting a relief from the tax and. -- tax increase. only ones paying a are the middle and big businesses. >> in my course this past fall, i work closely with the dallas chamber trying to recruit businesses from all your states to texas. there are two states that our chamber has targeted -- california and illinois. i did one lecture on state competition. i have been studying this for more than 40 years. i have never seen such a small

group of winners. 11 or 12 states that are doing really well and 37 or 38 states really suffering. in the winners and losers the gap is widening rapidly. i shared these one-page comparative sheets. texas the advantages versus illinois. texas and california. this is a death struggle. they're going for the jugular against california and illinois in trying to migrate and targeting -- i get calls all the time. do you know the ceo of such and such company in california or illinois? we would like an introduction. they are targeting companies that they think would prosper in texas. diana, a senior fellow at the manhattan institute. a contributing editor to real clear politics.

she has published numerous articles. you have two books coming out this year. "women's figures," and "regulating to disaster." you have recently completed a study on revenues collected through capitals gains tax and the impact on municipals budget. can you share some of your research? >> i would like to say how refreshing it was to hear president bush talk again about the advantage of low tax rates. i was honored to be chief of staff of the council of economic advisers during the 2001 effort to lower taxes, which we succeeded in doing. the senator was persuaded not to change parties until he voted for the tax cut.

i am glad they are called the bush tax cuts. i was looking at capital gains, revenues in different cities. i was asked to look at different municipalities. one thing that struck me was the big increase in tax -- capital gains tax rates and tax rates on capital that will occur on january 1 at the federal level. it is goodbye to the bush tax cuts. taxes on long-term capital gains for individuals will go up from 15% to 25%. not just because of the expiry of the bush cuts but also because of the new medicare tax. taxes on dividends will go from 15% to the upper level of around 45%. all of you might say, what does this have to do with the states? this is a panel on states. we find when taxes drop at the federal level, people realize fewer amounts of capital gains.

they wait and hold off. companies do not issue dividends as much. states that are getting money from capital gains and cities that are doing so find they have less revenue in their coffers. to make up for it they have to raise taxes in other ways. it is interesting we are here in new york city. i looked at three cities, new york city, indianapolis, baltimore. they are raise some revenues from capital gains taxes. this last year available, new york had about $1 billion on taxes from capital gains. this funded the headstart program and day care, transportation in the schools, a charter and contract schools and foster care. raising capital gains taxes, i

can assure you in new york city people are not going to realize capital gains for the same amount. everybody will see other forms of taxes go up. this is not just in the new york city. if we look at indianapolis. indianapolis had about $16 million from capital gains taxes, taxes on capital. that funded the department of metropolitan police and operating lease payments and administrations. capital gains taxes did not fund directly because all funds are -- this is the approximate amount in these different budget line items. baltimore had about $28 million from taxes on capital last year. this $28 million line item was about the equivalent of the department of health. it was the department of

recreation and parks. it was also equivalent to the department of housing and urban development. what we are seeing with these tax hikes coming up -- many of us call it a fiscal cliff. we are going to go over it on january 1. congress is not devoting any time to talking about it, and talking about the facts. also, talking about how to offset it. one with think with irresponsible congress that -- one would think with a responsible congress that they would see this is coming. we have to do something about it. it is not just affecting us, it will be affecting states all over the country because of the interaction between federal and state tax code. we have no discussion about it at all. is up to all of us to write articles and give speeches to talk about this and say, hey, what are you doing? you will be affecting different state budgets.

many states are not fortunate to have governors. they will have governor is not taking a hard line on taxes. those taxes will go up at the state level. it will be a great detriment. >> thank you. e.j., i am coming to you. he is a senior fellow at the manhattan institute. much of your work is focused on the state of new york. we are all new yorkers. we all love new york city. it is when many people embark on their start in america, the immigrants. most passed through new york. for those who are not lucky enough ever to come to the united states probably u.s. -- view us under the microscope of new york.

tell us about your research on new york, the good and the bet. -- good and bad. what have you found and what are the prospects for the future? >> what people of about new york can we find appealing about the city when you visit new york is a legacy of the tremendous wealth generated in the new york. it has status as the financial capital, media capital. the center of business and commerce, of innovation and competition, global trade. all of these things make new york great and appealing to people who give it dynamism, the immigrants who come here to get their start. tax policy and the economy of new york teaches interesting lessons and contradictions about the impact upon -- of tax

competition and how it is felt. let's go into some history. a lot of it1950's, begins as many things do. we have the election of nelson rockefeller as governor. in 1959, it had a 7% income tax rate. no sales tax. corporate tax, bank tax, some other stuff. the city of new york at that time and through the early 1960's was binding itself of a property tax, utility taxes, and the discretionary sales taxes. through the 1960's and arrive in the early 1970's. what happened was the nation's biggest experiment in seeing how far he could go with anti-growth tax policy. there has another reason there has never been anything like it. it is remarkable. by the early 1960's, the income

tax rate was over 15%. new york city had a tax rate of over 4%. the combined tax rate approached 20%. the city had its own corporate income tax. the city had a bigger sales tax. it had invented an unincorporated business tax affecting partnership income in the city. what happened between 1969 and 90's of the five is they lost 600,000 private sector jobs in five years. during the 1970's, they lost 800,000 residents. the city had a near-death experience. there was a collective understanding of what had produced that. there was a bipartisan agreement that changes have to be made. the city and state began to embark on. -growth tax policy.

it coincided exactly with the pro-growth tax policies of the reagan era on the federal level. no city benefited more from pro- growth tax policies starting in the early 1980's than new york city and no state more than new york state. when they were increasing their income taxes, the proximity of your competition is important. new jersey and connecticut had no income tax at that time. new york state was doing all of that at a time when its immediate neighbors had no income taxes and much lower taxes. in the late 1970's, under a democratic governor, the state embarked on what it ended up being a 17-year series of tax cuts. the state tax rate was cut in half.

the city taxes began to stabilize and then be reduced, most significantly in the 1990's. mayor giuliani was the only mayor to make an absolute policy priority reducing taxes. in the late 1990's under him, the city cut taxes by about $3 billion. the city gained over 300,000 jobs. the tax model indicated around 80,000 of those jobs could be attributed directly to tax cuts. let's bring ourselves to the present and go through the end of the 1990's. the tax cut in progress stopped on september 11, 2001. that created an immediate fiscal problem for the city. that was pretty much the end of concerted efforts to reduce taxes on the city and state level. we benefited one more time from what the president urged us not to keep calling the bush tax

cut in the early 2000's. the city and state did very significant temporary tax increases that took effect the same day as the acceleration of the bush tax cuts. the negative impact was overwhelmed by the positive impact of the tax cut. we benefited from pro-growth tax policies. we're the most heavily taxed big city in the country. the state has just extended an extra high tax. this time it does only apply to million-dollar incomes starting this year. the city and state have begun to turn back in another direction. i think we are at great risk from a federal policy. our tax base is shared with the federal government. our definition of income is that

of the federal government. we're subject to changing how much income as reported when people respond to the impact of federal tax changes. if all the bush tax cuts expire and some of the other changes proposed are made, we estimate the state will lose over $400 million in revenue. the city could lose almost 1/4 as much. those are rough estimates made four years ago. we are very much susceptible to the impact of federal tax changes. one other aspect we can discuss is the impact of changes to the way the federal government taxes or treats state and local taxes. the federal government has subsidized those by making them deductible. when we had a combined

4.5%. roughly 30 years later, our costanent tax rate bus next is about 4.5%. roughly 30 years later, our cost under the current tax code is 4.5% once again. if we curtail deductibility in the way the president has proposed, or if under a pro- growth tax regime as the one proposed by congressman ryan it is decided that base broadening should include the elimination of the federal and state deduction, that will be a challenge for high taxes venues like new york. you'll suddenly not have the federal government subsidizing your anti-competitive tax policies. >> ej, could you talk a little bit about the rest of the great

state of new york? several years ago, i chaired a team that rea credited the business school at syracuse university. i was there for three days. it is not a pretty sight what has happened to syracuse. i have a dear friend doing my job at the university of rochester school of business. it is not a pretty sight what is happening at rochester. i have not been in buffalo recently, but i think the same thing is true there. what is going on in the upstate? i was in boston last week. boston is still doing fine, but they are shutting down the rest of massachusetts. what is going on with these second-tier cities? >> upstate new york used to be a place that was richer than average, but on its own, would have been one of the most prosperous states in the union. one of the things at the upstate suffers from is more curse than a blessing of being in the same state as new york city. the policies of the state are dominated more than ever by

downstate elected officials. of state is suffering from a number of factors that may be called "secular." kodak is not going bankrupt because of new york state tax policies. the problem is the upstate cities are stuck with the tax policies of new york state in the regulatory policies of new york state. they are more vulnerable to the damage done by into growth tax policies. new york city is so enormous and wealthy that it is possible for a large number of people to spend years in denial or not noticed the impact the policies have as a result of tax policy. upstate new york is more vulnerable to the damaging effects of a state tax policies and high marginal tax rates. upstate, right now the story is one of stagnation. of state did not have a high unemployment rate because there

are not a lot of people hanging around upstate new york looking for jobs. a state did not have a real estate bubble because there were not a lot of people clamoring to buy houses in upstate new york. upstate new york has a lot of natural advantages. there are a lot of things about the cities in upstate new york -- syracuse, rochester, buffalo -- that many can tell you about. they have their own legacies in the era when there were richer and more dominant economically, but right now they suffer from a deep-seated stagnation made worse by state policies. the wealthiest and most successful entrepreneur produced by upstate new york was a billionaire who started a company called paychex. the tripled out his own credit card embar of money from relatives in the 1960's. he is a millionaire. he built this massively

successful, wonderful company in rochester. he is a huge philanthropist. he dabbles in sports teams. he also dabbled in politics, unsuccessfully. after the last state tax increase in 2009, he did something almost no one has ever done in new york. generally people do not leave a note, they just leave. or they do the "bad date" thing and say it is not you, it is me. he held a press conference and said this to the final straw. this will cost me $30,000 a day. i am going. i am moving to florida. you might think that may have some impact on the new york debate. i spent an inordinate amount of time on tv with people discussing new york tax policy. you will not be surprised to hear that when one mentions the wealthiest, most successful billionaire in upstate new york

in the last half century is leaving because of high taxes, they say he does not count. but he is an indication of the problem. >> the upstate new york problem -- if you look across the border at pennsylvania, all new york has to do is decide they will allow hydro fracking. they could be having the boom pennsylvania has. they could be at topping the development and deployment going on. >> unfortunately, that does not seem to be happening. >> but it could upper new york could turn around. >> 1.5 years ago, in conjunction with the bush institute, we did a conference called "america, natural gas nation." we had governor ed rendell, who was in the waning days of his governorship in pennsylvania, on one of the panels with the assistant attorney general for

the great state of new york. two different worlds. governor rendell was traveling and the fact that they had least over 450 drilling rights. i think it was up to 12 in new york. to hear the attitude towards frackin and taking advantage of these opportunities. we at several companies from the drilling companies come up next and say what they chose to locate in pennsylvania, do these sorts of drills, and suck that gas out of new york. [laughter] it was interesting when you saw the taxes and incentives working. these are pretty smart folks. it does not happen yet. it could. we see what is happening in north dakota. >> before i go to q&a, i want to comment on anything else

anyone of the other speakers said? >> i do not think, michael, you touched on it. you may have. we have done studies of what causes migration from one state to the other. the one thing we found that was the most powerful factor by far was right to work. right to work states significantly outperform non right to work states. that is important because indiana was the first day in a long time under mitch daniels to become a right to work state. states like new york refused to be right to work simply take themselves off the map. even if they get all the other policies right, ceos of companies, the people who determine where to place a plant or facility, but will not even consider a state that is not right to work. i would just add that as a really important component to why some states are working and others are failing. >> i would like to add a

footnote to that. if you go back to 1982 -- the last 30 years, look at auto assembly plants. either closed down or newly built. there are 22 new auto assembly plants. 21 out of the 22 were built in right to work states. there have been 17 auto plants closed by american auto producers. 16 out of the 17 were in a highly-unionized states. i work that into my course on the story of labor unions and how they create jobs and kill jobs. if you let the american automobile industry, people see detroit crumbling and think we are losing the automobile industry. ask the folks in alabama, south carolina, and tennessee at the auto industry is alive and well because the auto industry has moved to the sunbelt. it is run by bmw, mercedes- benz, honda, nissan, and other providers of automobiles, but it was the unions that did that.

anybody else? >> i want to make one comment. what we are talking about here is in contact is, but what a tax is is something that enables one group to consume without producing, to live at the expense of others. unions are part of that. as you pointed out to me many times, the biggest single tax increase ever foisted on american employers is obamacare. it cost american companies more to hire workers today. the increased is higher today than any tax that has been imposed. >> do not get me started on that. [laughter] >> if you are calling it a tax, which it really is, it plays into the administration. before it was a penalty. it was not a tax.

>> there is a company based in santa barbara, california. i have gotten to know them pretty well because the ceo's son is a junior at the cox school of business. they had great plans to expand. it is the parent of six concept restaurants. the biggest one is carl's jr. the biggest expansion plans in 2012-2014 were to build hundreds of carl's jr. restaurants in texas and create thousands of new jobs. the cost of obamacare, because they only provide health insurance to full-time employees, the average cost of health care was $10 million. under obamacare, that rose to $28 million. it almost tripled. they scuttled the plans for hundreds of new restaurants and we lost thousands of new jobs. that is a small company, but my friends at at&t in dallas said the annual cost of their health

care went up $1 billion a year. those are job killers. >> the house is in recess right now. the votes are expected at 6:30. live house coverage coming up on c-span. we will show you a portion of the pentagon briefing before returning live to the house at 6:30 eastern. >> we owe it to our first responders to give them a modern indications network. andgress created firstnet,

then indicated $7 billion would be made available to go ahead and construct this network. >> tonight spec from policy and other telecommunications issues, on c-span2. >> and now a portion of today's pentagon briefing. >> good afternoon. let me summarize some key points. on afghanistan, last week we held extensive consultations with afghan minister of defense.

we signed on mou's detention and special operations, this relationship is on the right path. we are continuing to make progress. there will be challenges, continuing challenges, as we saw over the weekend. our partnership remains strong. the afghans are providing greater security, and the strategy that general allen has put in place is succeeding. in the middle east we hosted the saudi minister of defense. we had a productive discussion on security challenges emanating from the middle east. nuclear program remains a

pressing concern. in syria, the regime's violence is increasingly intolerable, and they continue to raise questions about their adherence to the ceasefire agreement. on north korea, we have been in close contact with our counterparts in south korea, and japan, as we monitored the provocative and ultimately unsuccessful attempt by the north korean government to conduct a missile launch. we will continue to be fully prepared for any future publications, should they occur. we hope that will not be the case, but we continue to be prepared in the event that happens. on nato, i am leaving tomorrow for a joint ministerial in brussels, the last high-level

meeting that will take place before the chicago summit in may. we are at a pivotal point for the alliance, as we build on the gains that have been made in afghanistan, and try to chart the course for the future in that area. we will also be working to ensure our nato has the right military capabilities that will be needed for the future in order for nato to assume the responsibilities that it must as we proceed. even as we deal with these global security challenges, we have a great challenge here at home, which is working with congress to implement our new defense strategy. let me give you a quick update on where i think things stand at this point. since the president's budget request was released on february 13, the budget and strategy that we have developed have been

subject to intense scrutiny on capitol hill. german dempsey and i went to the hill to testify five times before the key committees. there had been more than 50 additional congressional hearings the service secretaries, the service chiefs, the combat and commanders, and other senior civilian and military leaders. a lot of tough questions were asked, but i believe both our strategy and our budget proposals of up very well under this very intense scrutiny. as a result we continue to strongly believe that this is the right strategy and the right budget to meet our responsibilities to a strong national security and a tough fiscal requirement. military and civilian leaders here at the department all stand unified behind our strategy and our budget, because i think we believe we have developed the

best strategy and budget together as a team that. in a word, the key elements of the strategy, they are familiar to all of you, but let me summarize those key points. first, the force will be small and leaner, but it must be agile and flexible and deployable and technologically advanced. second , we will rebalance our global posture. third, we will strengthen key alliances through deployment and other innovative ways to sustain our presence elsewhere. fourth, we will ensure that the military can confront aggression and defeat any opponent, anytime, anywhere, and lastly, which will protect investments in new technologies, such as isr, space, cyber space, global strike, special ops, and the capacity to quickly mobilized. in the end it is up to congress.

in the coming weeks they will begin considering the defense authorization preparation bills. our hope is congress will consider the new defense strategy and budget decisions that resulted from that strategy. the key is that this is a zero- sum game. because the budget control act, any change in any one area of the budget and force structure will require offsetting changes elsewhere, and that carries the real risk that this -- that if this is not done right, the result could be a hollow, on balance, or weaker workforce. our hope is that strategy will not be picked apart piece by piece. if we are prevented from carrying out all of the six major weapons terminations we have proposed, the result will be a need to find as much as

$9.6 billion in savings from other areas, over five years. that could mean less money to or high priority ships car the next generation aircraft. if congress rejects all the modest changes we have proposed , then almost $13 billion in savings over the next five years will have to be found in other areas. such as readiness, or we could be forced to further reduce our troop strength. the message we wanted to send congress today is that there is very little margin for error with this package. that is the reality that all of us are living with. the strategy we develop maintain the strongest military in the world by every measure, and that is the central out because of the nature of the security challenges that we are facing. i believe we are at a critical

point in our nation's history. we need to rise to meet the challenges that are facing us in uncertainerous and on world and got before the congress to restore to bitter partisanship at this time. we owe it to the american people to ensure the right decisions are made to protect our nation and our national security. the full scope of modern threats, including the threat of our debt and our deficits. above all we owe it to the american people to find a way to avoid sequester. the clock is ticking. it has been 121 days since the supercommittee failed, and congress has yet to find a way to avoid the threat of sequestered. i remain optimistic that we can hopefully find a way to avoid this disaster. it is going to take congress and all of us working together to

find consensus and provide strong bipartisan leadership to protect our economy, our quality of life, and our national security. that is what the american people expect of their leaders. it is what we at the department of defense have made the effort to do this with the defense strategy we have put in place for the future. at the close by noting in the spirit of that her ship between dod and congress, general dnc and i will meet tonight with members of congress, caucus on women in the military, and the military sexual assault prevention caucus. we will discuss the next series of steps the department will take with regard to sexual assault as i have said before, sexual assault is no place -- has no place in the military, and we have made it a top priority to combat this crime.

when will it continue to develop our strategies. we will continue to develop our energy and our intention to enforcing our department's zero- tolerance policy on sexual assault, and building a zero- tolerance culture in the military for sexual assault. my goal is to do everything possible. i think our goal has been to do everything possible to open up the military to everyone who wants to serve this country. to do that, we must effectively deal with this kind of threat. >> thanks, mr. secretary. the secretary rightly observes that the last several weeks have been pretty remarkable. these last seven days remind us live in an extraordinarily complex and increasingly competitive world. today we face is to treat paradox, a time that may appear

on the surface to be less dangerous, but that underneath the service is actually more deventer's. levels of violence are at an evolutionary low point, but destructive technologies are proliferating to groups and individuals as well as formerly middleweight powers. as a consequence there are more actors with more potential to do us harm. this is not a time for comfort or complacency, which is why our nation's leaders can together last year to develop a new strategy. the strategy of firms are solemn duty to protect our country and its citizens. it is informed by security environment that is changing in unprecedented ways to rid it applies the lessons of a decade of war. the fiscal 2013 budget is an essential first step toward a

strategy constitutes a set of choices. it is about making sure we have the right tools to keep america immune from coercion. we updated our strategy to responsibly meet the nation boss security needs, nothing more and nothing less than that. i am confident this approach honors our commitment the military family. thank you, and we look forward to your questions. >> i would like to ask you about a multi-pronged attack in afghanistan yesterday. is it your assessment that these attacks were organized and led by the hon connie networked -- haqqani network? >> intelligence indicates the

haqqanis were behind the attacks, and we have received a great deal of intelligence indicating they were planning these kinds of attacks. obviously, we're always concerned about the attacks that the place. they reflect that the taliban is resilience, that they remain determined, and yet i think we that the confidenct afghans have increased the capability to deal with these kinds of attacks. there were no tactical gains here. these are isolated attacks that are done for symbolic purposes. they have not regained in the territory, have not been able to conduct an organized attack since last year.

what it told us, and i think general allen pointed this out, it confirms that the afghan army and police did a great job of reacting to these attacks. they quickly restore order. they quickly restored security in those areas. it gave us an indication that they really are improving in terms of the capability to provide to charity. having said all that, this is clearly the beginning of the spring offensive that the taliban engages in, and we are fully confident that combined with the afghan army weekend confront that threat. >> i will add, though the evidence leads us to believe the network was involved in this, it does not lead back into pakistan at this time. networkeat the haqqani

exists on both sides of the border. you asked what does it mean. means we are still in a fight, and i do not think any of us have suggested there would not be fighting still needing to be done. we have been talking openly about the fact we have three tore fighting seasons diminish the capability of the taliban. as secretary said, we did have intelligence, but we were not trying to protect a discreet moment but we were before. when president karzai called for the jurga, the security was remarkable. there was not a single incident around that, although the asf was in the lead in that regard. the intelligence is vague about

timing, and you have to keep your guard up constantly. last thing, and i worked with both the iraqi security forces and the afghan security forces, and the afghan security forces performed their duties admirably, even though it was on short notice over the last 48 hours. >> what you had to say about the afghan ministers here last week, the defense and interior ministers, the interior minister said they received assurances from you from training and equipment assistance after 2014. would you expand on those assurances. what do you think their role and mission will look like after 2014? >> we will be discussing that in chicago, and we want to work with our partners to determine what that presence will look like. clearly, any future presence

will focus on areas like counter terrorism and focus also on training and assistance and advice as we provide it will continue to provide it in the future. >> will there be hundreds of thousands of u.s. forces on the ground? >> we will not comment on what we are assuming at this point, because we want to engage in serious consultation with our partners as to what the presence will look like. >> there will be some u.s. presence? >> i think that will be the case. >> what the fallout on the attacks of the weekend. these kinds of attacks and not to grow warfare. could that not in itself be effective enough to undermine the confidence of the afghan people to undermine the effort to try to stabilize afghanistan

in the long run and for the afghan security forces to be able to deal with these attacks even every few months, you have an attack like this in a major population area? >> look, you know, as general dempsey pointed out, we are in a war, and we are going to confront this enemy in these kinds of attacks. but i do not think any of this detracts from the fundamental conclusion that 2011 was i think a clear turning point. >> we're leaving this now to take you back live to the house of representatives. order, h.r. 3001 by the yeas and nays and h.r. 4040 by the yeas and nays. proceedings on h.r. 1815 and

h.r. 2583 will resume later in the week. the first vote will be conducted as a 15-minute vote. the remaining electronic vote will be conducted as a five-minute vote. the motion is on the -- the question is on the motion of the gentleman, mr. luetkemeyer. the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h r. 3001, a bill to ea ward congressional gold medal to raul wallenberg in recognition of heroic achievements in the holocaust. the speaker pro tempore: the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a 15-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote, the yeas are 377, the nays are zero, 2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and the the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. the unfinished business is the vote on the motion of the the gentleman from missouri to pass h.r. 4040 on which the yeas and nays are ordered. the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 4040, a bill to provide for the award of a gold medal on behalf of congress to jack nicklaus in recognition of his service to the nation in promoting excellence and good supportsmanship in golf. the speaker pro tempore: the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a five-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of

representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote, the yeas are 373 the nays are 4, with one recorded as present. 2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and the motion to reconsider is laid on the table.

the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. pursuant to house resolution

571, the speaker, on march 14, 2012, appointed the following members of the house to attend the funeral they have late honorable donald m. payne. the clerk: the gentleman from new jersey, mr. smith, the gentleman from south carolina, mr. clyburn, the member os they have new jersey delegation, mr. pallone, mr. andrews, mr. free lig hughesen, mr. holt, mr. gear rhett, mr. lance, mr. runyan. other members in attendance, ms. waters, ms. brown of florida, mr. rush, mr. scot of -- mr. scott of virginia, mr. watts, mr. -- ms. woolsey, ms. jackson lee of texas, mr. clay, mr. butterfield, mr. al green of texas, ms. moore, ms. clark of new york, ms. edwards, ms. fudge, ms. bass of california

mrks sewell, ms. norton, and ms. christian -- ms. christianson. -- ms. christiansen. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady rise? ms. foxx: i send to the desk a report from the committee on rules for filing under the rule. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title. the clerk: report providing for consideration of the bill h.r. 2049 to protect and enhance opportunities for recreational hunting, fishing and shooting and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: referred to the house calendar and ordered printed.

the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from north carolina seek recognition? >> to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. the gentleman is correct, the house is not in order. members will clear the well. ms. foxx: mr. speaker, i rise today to congratulate an outstanding young man from deep gap, north carolina.

kyle is set to graduate from the united states air force academy this may. he will be graduating as squadron commander of his unit and was recently selected to represent the air force academy after the dolittle raider reunion. he was selected as number one cadet from all the history and f.a.s. history majors to serve on the silver goblet detail at this historic event. he was first nominated for the air force academy in 2006. in 2007, he left the academy to spend time as a missionary in taiwan and subsequently returned to the academy. today i'm proud not only to congratulate kyle for graduating at the top of his class, but proud of his dedication and commitment to god and his

country. may god continue to bless kyle and his family. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. poe: as the sun rose in the hill country shortly before 8:00 a.m., she breathed her first breath of life she weighed 6 pounds, ounces, 19 1/2 inches long as she arrived in round rock, texas, on april 12 of this year. presley poe is the fourth child bosh to suze and kurt poe. i call her number 0 because i refer to our grandchildren by name and by birth order as well.

press lee did not choose the family or situation where she'd be born but she is very fortunate. there's something about little girls that make us smile. maybe it is that we see iner that eyes a hope for a better and gentler world. it's all of these, of course. welcome to the world, presley. i hope you walk in the path of goodness, giving and gratitude and that you attend the university of texas and not texas a&m and that's just the way it is. the speaker pro tempore: members are reminded to address their remarks to the chair. for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> to address the house for one minute and amend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> occasionally we go to remarkable events and i did so last saturday. mr. garamendi: a couple that had reached the age of 94 and 92 were celebrating not only the gentle -- the gentlelady's

birthday but also their 70th year of marriage and when i told people where i had been, they go, you've got to be kidding? 70 years? no, they were not married as teenagers but they were married in their 20's, they happen to be my aunt and uncle and i love those genes, so congratulations to ann and jack murphy and the day of ann's 90th barte diand their -- and their 70th anniversary. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from michigan seek recognition? >> to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> tomorrow is tax day and as americans work to file their taxes by midnight tomorrow, they're reminded of how broken our tax system, how cumbersome it has become, and how it has not kept up with our economy. there are too many in washington

who focus on raising taxes. the united states became the number one in the world for having the highest tax rate. this is something we should not be aspiring to, a new medical device tax is set to start in january that will be hard hitting on the medical innovation. we need a tax code that promotes hard work, achievement and innovation. we need a tax code that is simple ler and fair and more competitive so we can grow our economy and create jobs. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from texas seek recognition? >> to address the house for one minute and revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one pin. ms. jackson lee: thank you very much, mr. speaker.

i was in colombia, south america this past week. we spoke of small business opportunities. at the same time we had to talk about an action from secret service.

the speaker pro tempore: under the speaker's announced policy of january 5, 2011,, the gentleman is recognized for 60 minutes. mr. burton: thank you, mr. speaker. i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. mr. speaker, this past break that we were just on, i had the occasion to visit a group, in the gulf area. bahrain is a great friend, not only because they've been historically a friend of the united states, but we have the fifth fleet there. and the fifth fleet is there to protect the interests of that part of the world as well as the united states of america. the straits of who are muzz and the persian gulf is right there and the fifth fleet is there to guarantee that shipping of oil from that part of the world can get through. and so bahrain is extremely important to the united states as well as being a friend. and an ally. in addition to that, bahrain is also a free trade agreement partner. i think we had a straight surplus with them. the reason i brought this up tonight, mr. speaker, is

because i watched television and i've seen where there's been a repressive government in bahrain. now, there's no question there's been problems in the past. there has been overreaction by the police and in certain instances in the past, a year and a year and a half and as a result there were people who were hurt severely when they were demonstrating in the streets of bahrain. but the king and the crowned prince have worked very hard to solve this problem. one of the problems they have over there is the iranian

government is working to try to undermine the government so that many of the countries in the persian gulf and bahrain is one of them, and there have been people coming from iran into bahrain to try to work with the demonstrators to undermine that government and overthrow it. and people from by a rain -- bahrain have gone to learn tactics to employ against the government there. and we have found that just recently there has been fire bombing of homes, of police, there have been fire bombings of police in the streets. some of them have burned to death. and just recently one of the homes there, the policeman, when he was gone, his wife and child was there and their house was fire bombed. now, the police have been ordered by the government, the king and the crowned prince, to be very careful in how they react to the demonstrators. as a matter of fact, they don't use ammunition, they use tear gas to control the crowds. so there's no attempt right now to hurt the people there who are trying to hurt the police and the government. and so i think it's important that we get the proper perspective on what's going on over there because this is one country that's extremely important to the united states because of energy that we get as well as trade and other things. if the streets of -- straits of hormuz were to be closed down, if the persian gulf was closed down, if they sunk some ships in there or if they put mines in the straits of who are muzz,

the fifth -- so bahrain is extremely important. now, i want to make a couple points tonight that's extremely posh. first of all, the government -- important. first of all, the government and the police have made mistakes in the past. there's no question about that. demonstrators, as i said before, have been infiltrated by outside radical elements. and the demonstrators have used terrorist attacks as i said to try and destroy and undermight be the government and the molotov cocktails is one of the things that they've been using. but they've been learning other things from the radical elements that come in there or have been trained by the iranians. now, the government has attempted to solve the problem. as a matter of fact, the king appointed an outside commission and this is the commission report, mr. speaker. this is a huge report.

and it's not by the government of bahrain, it's been an outside group of people who are being fair and objective whether they made these recommendations to the government. and the king and the crowned prince and the government are doing everything they can to implement these recommendations. and we need to applaud them for doing that. they're reaching out to the demonstrators and the more radical elements to try to get them to the conference table to solve these problems. so far the demonstrators supported in large part by these radical elements will not come to the conference table and discuss these issues. and so the government is trying to reach out to them, but the demonstrators don't want to. and that's something i think the world needs to know and the people in this country need to know and i hope our state department is paying attention to this because the state department has a different view in many respects than what i found when i was there. i want to stress very clearly

tonight that the government has reached out to the demonstrators to discuss their grievances but they can't get them to sit down with them. so the government's reaching out, but the radical elements and the demonstrations are trying to make sure that the government continues to be undermined and stopped. let me just end up by saying that we don't have a lot of friends in that part of the world. we have seen all kinds of problems in libya. libya's now in a state of confusion. if you look at egypt right now, radical elements are trying to take over egypt. that's the we've seen the problems in sir yafment people are trying to see a resolution of that problem through the mid mitigation of the united nations and the former head of the united nations. but that entire area is in a state of flux and we need all the friends that we can get and

one of the best friends we have in the world in my opinion is bahrain. and since they are our friend and the fifth fleet is there, and since they are a great trading partner, i think that we should make sure that the american people and the rest of the world knows how important bahrain is to this country and to the world. 40%, 35%, to 40% of our energy comes through the persian gulf and the straits of who are muzz. if that area were to be bottled up we would be in big trouble. lights would go off, energy would be curtailed. we'd have electricity curtailed and it would be bad for industry and the commerce in this country. and so the fifth fleet being there is extremely important. and bahrain has been very supportive of our military and intelligence, very supportive of the navy and the fifth fleet and we need to make sure that that relationship continues for as many years as possible and the best way to do that is to make sure there's stability in the government. and the information that's been

coming back through the state department and others is that the government of bahrain has been repressive, we ought to be putting pressure on them to make positive changes. they have made the changes. they are using tear gas only to stop the demonstrators. they've reached out to the demonstrators to get them to the conference table. to support and change rules and regulations and laws there that will solve the problem. this again is a report, an independent report by outside entities, experts, that came up with a very big report on things that should be changed in bahrain by the royal family and the government to make sure that everybody can live together in peace and there will be stability in the region. and i want to stress one more time, the demonstrators will not come to the conference table. so tonight i'd like to urge those who are demonstrating to take a step back, take a deep breath and reach out and take the hand of the government, sit down at the conference table and work things out because that's what they want to do.

and if they do that, i'm sure there will be peace and harmony in bahrain and it will be great for the united states of america because a great friend, a great ally and a great government over there will be secure and be able to protect our interests as well as other interests that are very important to the entire world. with that, mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the chair lays before the house the following personal requests. the clerk: leaves of absence requested for mr. culberson of texas for today, ms. edwards of maryland for today, mr. jones of north carolina for today, mrs. napolitano of california for today and tomorrow, mr. schiff of california for today. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the requests are granted. under the speaker's announced policy of january 5, 2011, the gentlewoman from the virgin islands, mrs. christensen, is recognized for 6 to minutes as the designee -- 60 minutes as

the designee of the minority leader. mrs. christensen: thank you, mr. speaker. and, mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the topic of this special order. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mrs. christensen: thank you, mr. speaker. and i'd like to again thank the democratic leader for giving us this time. mr. speaker, tonight the congressional black caucus will use the hour to speak to something that's always at the core of what we fight for and what we legislate for. what we legislate to end. and which is always at the root of much of what we come to the floor every monday night to talk about. the persistence of inequality and injustice in our country. and it is fitting then that as we do so this evening, we call to mind and honor a staunch champion for justice, attorney john payton who at the time of his death on march 22, was the

sixth president of the naacp legal defense and educational fund and tonight i'm joined by several of my colleagues and i'd like to begin by yielding such time as she might consume to the congresswoman from oakland, california, the former chair of the congressional black caucus, a leader and a strong -- one of our strongest fighters for justice and equality in this country, congresswoman barbara lee. ms. lee: thank you very much. first, let me thank congresswoman, dr. christensen, for those very kind remarks. but also for your leadership on this issue and on so many issues. and for anchoring these special orders week after week. it is so important that the points of views of the congressional black caucus get out to the public. and you've been such a steady and consistent voice and your presence here is deeply appreciated. thank you very much. and also i just have to thank all of the members of the congressional plaque caucus,

chairman cleaver, for continuing to beat the drum for justice. this past week we lost a tireless advocate for justice, equality and opportunity. and i am deeply saddened by the passing of my friend and activist, john payton. john was a civil rights attorney and served as the president of the naacp's legal defense and education fund and was lead counsel for the university of michigan in the 2003 landmark case concerning diversity in higher education. democracy at its core requires that all of the people be included in we the people. his life was really a testimony to this belief. he was the past president of the district of columbia's bar association and served in leadership roles with a number of civil and human rights organizations, including the national lawyer's committee for civil rights under the law and the free south africa movement. and i was very privileged to be

with john last year and his wife, my friend, gay, in which is therland as we worked through and i chaired a committee for the u.n. on minority political participation. john will be deeply missed by so many. my thoughts and my prayers are with his wife and all of his family and his friends. and as we remember john and the progress that we've made with his leadership, we know that the work for justice is far from over. the recent events in florida are really a grim reminder of the long road ahead. on february 26, 2012, trayvon martin, a 17-year-old african-american youth, was tragically gunned down while walking home from a local 7/11 store. the gunman, 38-year-old george zimmerman, was not immediately charged for the murder and was released by the police

department. stanford police chief bill lee said there was not enough evidence to arrest george zimmerman even though the killer followed the young male in his s.u.v. and confronted the teen before the shooting. more than 40 days later, as a result of the outrage across the country, dedicated reporting from the media, advocacy from community and faith leaders and vocal parents and families and of course the facts which spoke for themselves, the wheels of justice have finally beginning to turn. this is really an unfortunate and tragic defining moment that we must come to grips with. and first we must of course seek justice for trayvon and his family. especially in the wake of the circumstances surrounding his killing. secondly, we must make certain that this toxic and deadly mix of the power of guns, hate crimes and racial profiling ends once and for all.

just recently bill cosby said that there is a need to get guns off the street and the people should be taught to use every possible alternative before shooting someone. yet of course there are those who continue to push for vigilanty justice with laws like stand your ground, stanford really could be anywhere. it could be in my own community and we have many, many of the same challenges as stanford has. racial profiling is real. this young teenager was gunned down of course because of how he looked, because of the color of his skin. as a mother of two seasons -- sons and the proud grandmother of two grandsons, these fears haunt med as i was raising my two sons and continue to haunt me each and every day. the reality is that many black parents live with these fears each and every day. again, stanford could be anywhere. hate crimes must be reinforced. of course, mr. zimmerman was fixated and focused on young

black males, according to neighbors and press reports. he had been the subject of complaints by neighbors in his gated community for aggressive tactics. our laws state that you cannot injure or intimidate another based on their race. when these laws are broken, the consequences must be applied appropriately. whether it has been the color of one's skin, their religion, their gender, their disability, national origin or sexual orientation or identity, the sad fact is that too many persons have been the victims of violence often ending in death simply because of the -- of a characteristic of birth. the senseless violence must end. stanford could be anywhere. so very many people feel the loss of trayvon as their own personal loss. and while we cannot understand and feel the pain experienced by trayvon's family, there is universal pain, a national pain, and it is shared far and

wide. and so we will continue to take up the very critical issues of racial profiling and hate crimes. a recent briefing on these issues successfully raise the level of awareness around the country about the deadly combination of guns, racial profiling and hate crimes. chairman cleaver called upon the department of justice to investigate the shooting death of trayvon martin as a hate crime. on march 19, the department of justice launched a full investigation and of course the congressional black caucus is very either to see this report -- eager to see this report. as president obama said, this is a time of soul searching fosh our nation as it comes to -- for our nation as it comes to grips with this tragedy. this senseless violence must end. we all must recommit ourselves to justice, justice for all. thank you, congresswoman christensen, and i yield back the balance of my time. mrs. christensen: thank you, congresswoman lee. and you reminded me that i had the honor of traveling with you to geneva for that conference

that focused on the inequalities, the injustices that exist in far too many areas of the world with respect to voter participation. and as we heard from so many marginalized communities and different countries, it was really sad that when it came from my time to speak, that i spoke from the experience of the united states and the lack of voter participation, the lack of full representation of the district of columbia, the capital of the united states, and the inability of the people of the territories to vote for the president, our commander in chief. . ms. lee: that's right, and if you'll yield for a moment, it was a great moment, with our great fallen hero john payton when we had the discussion about

the disenfranchisement of the entire population of the district of columbia. he was totally dedicated to voting rights for the district of columbia. i'm so pleased that congresswoman eleanor holmes norton is continuing to fight the good fight and has made sure that all of us do not forget that we live here, you know, during the week and that ealso have a real commitment to ensure that their full -- there are full voting righters in residents of the district of columbia. they pay tax, they have full responsibilities and duties of the american citizens and they should be able to volt. john payton stood for that throughout his life. thank you. mrs. christensen: before i yield to the congresswoman from the district of columbia, i would like to yield such time as she may consume to the gentlelady from texas, also a very strong voice for justice and equality in this country, not just in her own district but for americans and for people across the world, the congresswoman from houston,

texas, congresswoman sheila jackson lee. ms. jackson lee: let me thank the gentlelady again for her leadership, i'd like to -- i like to call her dr. cystensen and as my colleague -- dr. christensen and as my colleague indicated, allowing us to have a voice on a regular basis, on behalf of my constituency and the congressional black caucus, the conscience of this congress and the conscience of america. i want to thank the honorable barbara lee who know what is justice and fighting for freedom is all about, and i'm reminded of the unique history of oakland, california and i think of the movement of justice drut black panthers early years, who

did many things, i remember them for their early breakfast, nutrition program. i call that justice. let me just thank her for her leadership and leadership on many issues to my colleague from the district of columbia, the honorable eleanor holmes norton, let me thank her as well. let me indicate, this is emancipation day, there was a big parade and president lincoln just a few steps away from us signed the freing of the slaves in washington, d.c. and you don't know the history of the district of columbia until you hear it from eleanor holmes norton, i thank her very much and i know of her friendship and closetons john payton, and one of my friends, judge gabriel mcdonald, likewise came to a similar history and we have talked, i was an earl warren

legal scholar, i know the journey so many have traveled. this is a personal statement as i ride to salute john payton and also acknowledge his wife and i want to say this on behalf of my husband, dr. owen c. lee, graduate of s.m.u. law school, who knew her, what a family of justice rights fighters, who could be on as eloquent on the question of hi-aids, plague, it impacts so many vulnerable communities, they are discussing the worldwide siege of aids upon individuals and likewise come home and march along the roads of justice here in america. i learned in law school that the law, and i know that congresswoman holmes norton still teaches and i know the law

is a jealous mistress. i would say to you, i found that out, obviously i'm now in the united states congress, but i love the law. i love the purpose and values of lawyers. i encourage young lawyers, if they want to read a story of sacrifice and someone who epitomizes that it's a jealous mistress read the history of john adoll fouse payton born in 1946, passed on this past march 22 in baltimore, maryland. he obviously from california, but with a law degree from harvard law school. that means that the door was open to -- the world was his oyster. it was open to any manner of choice that he could have made in his lifetime. he was a federal clerk, he managed to start his life and

wilma hale, which i believe used to be wilma-cuttering-pickering, but he found his way to his calling. he found his way to answer the opportunities that he was given, being a 1977 graduate of harvard law school, he stood on the shoulders of thurgood marshall, graduate of howard law school he stood on the shoulders of the giants that granl waited from law school in arkansas, the other giants that graduated from howard. and i think he found his comfort level at the naacp legal defense fund, becoming the sixth president and my classmate, elaine jones, served in that capacity for a very long time, graduating from the university of virginia law school and today

new york a wonderful tribute, she was part of that wonderful memorial service that was held here in washington, d.c. along with a number of other giants. let me just say to you, when we think of justice, we have a combination from the civil rights leaders, to the fallen dr. king on the balcony of tennessee but do we know all the lawyers that were part of the may trick of justice, from thurgood, who held the hand of dr. king and the number of civil rights leaders, one after another, some of our giant lawyers down in alabama and mississippi who were there to bond them out, to petition their case. well, in the likes of those, john payton became an unselfish fighter for justice from his, what i call, victory of crosen, it was a victory, he attempted to maintain the affirmative action plan that established the simple process of assisting

businesses to receive opportunities. i want you to know today that because of lawsuits like that, we are suffering incy cities all around america. many believed just a smidgen of opportunity was too much. in houston, under the general services administration i hope will be cleaned up, we have a major company using stimulus dollars, having no concern about the in depth participation of diverse work force. let the number go out as a result of what john payton was fighting against and his fight in 2003, the university of michigan affirmative action case that's mane tained today as he defended the use of race in their admission process, again, not using it destructively. enge that's one of the arguments

that is not a legal argument but he found a way to justify it. the trial court of appeals, the u.s. supreme court defending undergraduate school's use of race in their admission process, but in any event, maintaining the fight and taking cases that were not popular. john, thank you. thank you, gaye for sharing him a 2009 case, district number one versus holder, peyton -- that led to the house's 8-1 decision upholding the ruling. he was our firewall on the section 2 and section 5. he was the arbiter, the outside partner to the department of justice that wanted and needed to do right. finally the local attorney for the plaintiff in 2010, lewis v.

city of chicago, in which a group of african-americans seeking tore firefighters, so that truth would be the call of the day. it is important to hold him up as the minnesota of armor who was nonviolent and he held as his victory call the constitution and laws that were passed to help the unempowered. the voting rights act is not the black voting rights act, it's the voting rights act to have one vote, one person for every single american. my hat goes off to john payton, i salute him as a soldier on the battlefield for justice, never wavering with his quiet demeanor but strength in the courthouse. i ask the naacp legal defense fund to stay the course. i ask you to never whimper and never weaken and i say to you that your soldier is going on to

be a general in the justice cause in a place beyond. i beg of you to carry forward. let me just read these citations i thought -- that i had that were in honor of him, just very briefly from the statement of the l.d.f., they spoke about the city of chicago, the case that vindicated the rights of over 6,000 applicants, as i indicated, that case prevailed. they called him fearless a guiding light a brilliant advocate, a mentor a teacher who believed that american democracy thrives when it embraces all our voices. thank you to the legal defense fund. then from one of the major law firms, partner walter dellinger, had this to say, john payton was a towering figure. he was just flat out brilliant

and combined the intellectual power with a deep and empathetic commitment to justice. everyone who knew john will remember forever his infectious spirit and uninhibited laugh. every encounter with john was a learning experience. let me close on this note because i know that john would have been in the midst of discussing this travesty of justice as it relates to tre'von martin. -- to trayvon martin. he was a symbol of the injustice of this nation when police and state prosecutor became judge and jury. i don't want to interfere with the process of justice. mr. zimmerman is arrested. but let us not rest on our laurels because we pushed for the ears that should have been. we know that there will be a rocky road proceeding toward

holding mr. zimmerman accountable. more importantly, let me make it very clear on the floor of the house that every mode of justice that is needed for a fair trial, i support. if it is to remove the judge as the defense has asked for, let that be considered in an unbiased matter. if by chance, the prosecution asks for a change of venue because this jury pool in this region will be tainted, then so be it. but what we must also say, and let me be very clear, i as a democrat and i hope my friends on the other side are not afraid of dealing with gun violence and the overuse of guns in america as responsible legislators should. so to my good friend, bill crosby, let me say to you, cosby, excuse me, let me say to you that the call has been answered many times. there are many bills dealing with gun violence.

there are many bills to rein in the reckless use of guns, the use of assault weapon the issue of individuals not being checked at gun shows and the gun show loophole. it only take responseable leadership to move it forward. i salute the brady society and association that will be with us on the floor -- not on the floor but in washington tomorrow for recognizing that there are people who are willing to take a stand, not against your second amendment right, god bless you for those rights, you have those right, i celebrate those rights. but i cannot celebrate the fact that a man that was in the neighborhood watch, that is the eyes and ears, was walking around with a nine millimeter that shot dead an unarmed, helpless, 17-year-old boy and snuffed his life out because we refuse to address the question of everyone being able to carry a gun, whether trained or not.

mr. zimmerman was not a police officer. and should not have acted as if he was the law, the judge, and the jury. so to my good friends on the floor who will come up after me, let me just end my note by paying and saying to john payton, in instances like trayvon, i know your voice would have been heard on the civil rights of the question, but your voice had been heard through places where many of us were not there and did not know. so i agree and salute the words that were offered in tribute to you by so many of your colleagues for certainly these last words that indicate that you were in fact fearless, you were in fact a guiding light, you were in fact a brilliant advocate, mentor and teacher, you were in fact an eagle with winds who stood widespread over america and when there was a

doubt about justice you lead the naacp in a nonviolence, constitutional effort to ensure that justice be done. i yield back. mrs. christensen: thank you, congresswoman lee, for that strong and impassioned and very well deserved tribute to john payton this evening. and as i yield to the gentlelady from the district of columbia, let me on behalf of the people of the virgin islands who celebrate emancipation on july 3, wish the residents of the district of columbia happy emancipation day. ms. norton: i thank the gentlelady for yielding. i did not know of the emancipation day of the virgin islands.

please, i reciprocate and want to learn more about the virgin islands' emancipation day. i want to thank the gentlelady from the virgin islands, for the time and effort she's given this evening. i want to thank my colleagues who have come down so far for this hour. you just heard from my good friend, the congresswoman from texas, ms. jackson lee, i thank her for her remarks. and i thank her as well for mentioning emancipation day here in the district of columbia. where thousands of residents marched down pennsylvania avenue to claim the rights that every constituent of every member who pays taxes in the united states already has. so i know that i speak for the district when i thank you for that and when i say that john payton was a very, very devoted

washingtonian who would have particularly appreciated the emancipation day today. i thank congresswoman barbara lee who -- whose words are always important to hear as she probes the issues of the hour and especially what she had to say tonight about john payton. my condolences, first, to my good friend gay macdougal, john's wife, and to his siblings and his family. royal service was held today so it's fitting that we should be able to get this hour to say a few words in tribute. i'd like to say, i devote my word today both the man and the lawyer. john was my constituent and my friend. it's important to get a feel

for the man. if i may inquire how much time we have remaining in this hour? the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from the virge islands has 32 -- virgin islands has 32 minutes remaining. ms. norton: thank you very much, mr. speaker. there have been only six leaders of the naacp legal defense fund since thurgood marshall first went object the bench. you can imagine -- went on the bench. you can imagine what quality of lawyer it takes to fill the role that thurgood marshall had at the naacp legal defense and education fund. john payton was worthy of the role, worthy to become the sixth leader of the fund. if you looked at john's professional credentials, you would have thought that's enough of a life for a man to

have lived for, considering particularly that he is an african-american who went to college in law school when blacks were only beginning to be admitted to the best colleges and law schools in the country. but before his life was over, much too early, john had been listed on this decade's list of most distinguished lawyers in our country. he been president of the district of columbia bar. john's life and work of course is etched in important supreme court cases. we in the district of columbia feel especially the loss of john payton because john payton was what was called cooperation counsel and is now called the attorney general of the district of columbia and he left that -- he took that post

when he was asked by the mayor to leave private practice in order to become the lead lawyer in the d.c. d.c. to understand john, though, one has to see how this extraordinary man melded his love of the law, including private practice, with the love of his life, civil rights. it's clear that john laid down an early marker for what his life would become. that it would be a life dedicated to eliminating racial discrimination. john went to college in 1965 when these colleges were just admitting talented african-americans and he found himself in an elite private

college surrounded only by people who were not at all like him. they were not like -- they were like him in many ways, but they certainly didn't come from his background. there were very few african-americans in his college and in the five colleges in clairemont, california, that group of very fine private colleges. so, john began early, right in college, to recruit or to lobby the administration to recruit more african-american students and of course he wanted a black studies program because he saw that perhaps one of the reasons that there was so little interest in black students is

there was too little appreciation for the role of african-americans in our history. so he lobbied for that. and then he lobbied for the admissions people. to in fact recruit more african-americans. and when he lobbied so hard, the college asked him to take the job. so john, having insisted that more african-americans be recruited when he graduated took the job himself and delayed going to law school. that was john payton. he went on to harvard law school, but he couldn't leave behind his dedication to human rights. he got involved in the very famous infamous one might say school busing controversy. and in boston. while he was a law student, he

found himself taking affidavits from black students who were injured because of racial violence in boston. in law school he decided to join the editorial board of the harvard civil rights and civil liberties law review. you see the theme developing in john's life. of course, many students have these things -- themes, and we're pleased that they have them, when they do, but there's nothing that says you've got to devote your life to any particular cause. particularly if you're an african-american and experiencing the first opportunities to, for example, join private law firms. well, john did just that. he went on to practice corporation law and here in washington, d.c., at a prestigeous law firm, when it

was rare for blacks to practice privately at lead law firms. he went on to head litigation in his law firm. and then he did something that describes how john payton put together all of the ingredients of a man of the law. he took lee from the law firm to become corporation district for the district of columbia. he recognized that while -- that he had been taking civil rights cases as a private lawyer pro bono, and, yes, he could come and serve his city as the lead counsel. he met his wife, interestingly enough, when she -- when he was working on monitoring elections

in south africa. and that was as my good friend from texas has said, a meeting that was made in heaven, perhaps. she did not say it that way, i say it that way. because it's one of those wonderful marriages which bring together people of like heart and like mind. john of course will be remembered for his work in many ways at the naacp legal defense fund, though he did not get to do all that he set out to do. for example, john continued to take the legal defense fund along the road it had traveled so well. as lead law firm or lead litigater for civil rights in our country.

but he recognized that the legal defense fund had already won many of the most important cases. and that therefore the fund had to stay relevant, stay current, to quote him, when asked about whether he thought the problems of african-americans could be solved through litigation and he said, i'd say we have a litigation focus and some of our focus is not litigation. with some things you want to achieve a solution, without filing a lawsuit. you can go to the relevant entities, a school board, or a mayor, and suggest a solution without having to file a lawsuit. here is man who brought from private practice problem solving of many varieties. just the man for the legal defense fund in this era.

of course he will be remembered for cases of great importance. sometimes the case needed a lawyer with such a fine technical sense of law that all of the civil rights, human rights issues revolved around whether you had found a lawyer whose mind was fine enough to tackle such an issue. lewis vs. city of chicago, city of chicago was such a case where african-american firefighters filed a lawsuit charging discrimination by the city against african-american firefighters. the city conceded that it had given an examination which had

a disparity effect on minorities in violation of supreme court cases. but they argued that there was a statute of limitations issue and therefore john payton and his african-american plaintiffs could not continue. it took a lawyer, a lawyer's lawyer to take that case, argue that statute of limitations issue and go before the supreme court and get this supreme court to unanimously reverse the lower court which had found the statute of limitations, voided the case. today one of the core sections of the voting rights act of 1965 is r